David Dowler

Last updated
David Dowler
Born
David Albert Dowler

1953 (age 70–71)
Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Conviction(s) Murder
Criminal penalty Life imprisonment
Details
Victims3 (one conviction)
Span of crimes
1983–1987
CountryUnited States
State(s) Texas
Date apprehended
August 20, 1987
Imprisoned at Clements Unit

David Albert Dowler (born 1953) [1] is an American serial killer who poisoned three acquaintances in Odessa, Texas with chloroform and cyanide between 1983 and 1987. Convicted of a single murder, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988. [2]

Contents

Early life

David Dowler was born in 1953 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the elder son of an USAF colonel and his Japanese wife. Described as a caring boy by family members, David attended the Sandia High School, where he was an above average student, taking part in the wrestling team and in karate, earning a black belt. [3] According to his brother Will, Dowler had a keen interest in electronics and especially ham radio, and on one occasion even aided communication between law enforcement and firemen after a riot had destroyed telephone lines in Albuquerque. After graduating from school, he enrolled in the University of New Mexico, where he took courses in electrical engineering, physics, chemistry and mathematics, but failed to graduate. In 1976, he married a woman named Janet, with whom he had two daughters. [3] In the early 1980s, they moved to Midland, Texas, where David took a job as a sales representative at Daniel Industries. While working there, he met Lisa Blythe Krieg, and not long after, he became friends with Leza Chandler, a teacher in Odessa's Permian High School and Crockett's Junior High School, and Juan Antonio "Tony" Casillas, Chandler's ex-husband. David would later go on to establish a photo processing business with Casillas, which was based in Odessa. [3]

Murders

On August 16, 1983, the 26-year-old Lisa Krieg was found dead in her home. During the subsequent autopsy performed on the body, it was discovered that she had been suffering from anorexia, but had trouble determining whether that was the cause of death. [4] Peculiarly, on that same day, Dowler phoned Lisa's ex-husband, Tim, explaining to him that his wife had killed herself with cyanide he had given her. In addition, he also said to have cleaned her so her death would "look natural". [5] On several previous occasions, David, who claimed to be an undercover FBI agent in partnership with Lisa, had allegedly saved her life from assassins sent to end Mrs. Krieg's life after a government-sponsored operation, and to have even killed them in retaliation. At the time, Tim Krieg contacted the FBI to ask whether Dowler's claims were true, but received no response. Afraid that he would be deemed insane, he didn't notify police about Dowler's suspicious behavior. [5]

On February 12, 1986, the 28-year-old Casillas' body was found at his home in Odessa. Like with Krieg years earlier, cyanide was found in his body, as well as small traces of poppers, which were usually used for muscle relaxation. [4] Unable to determine the exact cause of death, Casillas' body was preserved for extra testing. On June 29, 1987, the 29-year-old Leza Chandler was found dead at her home by her friend Kerri Dawn Middleton, who was visiting from Midland. The autopsy determined that she had died from acute chloroform poisoning, likely in a homicidal manner. [6] They investigated her past, discovering that Chandler and several friends, among whom was Dowler, often gathered at her house and inhaled chloroform so they could talk about their problems in a relaxed state. After hearing rumors that she may have had an affair with David, officers were sent in to question him, leading to his eventual arrest for Chandler's death. [7]

Trial and imprisonment

In September 1987, Dowler was indicted for the death of Leza Chandler, in addition to being charged with carrying two illegal sound suppressors, with a bail bond set at $100,000. While they were gathering evidence to build a case against the accused poisoner, [7] authorities also investigated the suspicious deaths of three acquaintances of Dowler's, among whom was 29-year-old Kathy Hicks, who collapsed at an arts and crafts show held in the Ector County Coliseum in 1986. [8] The arrest came as a shock to both his family members and relatives, whom outwardly expressed their disagreement that David was a murderer, claiming that he was a gentle soul who wouldn't even hurt a fly and that he was likely framed. [9] On December 30, 1987, Dowler was officially indicted for Casillas' and Krieg's deaths by the grand jury. [10] Hicks' deaths was later determined to be caused by heart problems, and thus unrelated to the other deaths. [4]

At the trial, detectives testified at a pretrial hearing that they had located two empty bottles of chloroform in two-pint bottles while searching through Dowler's West Louisiana Street residence. [6] Dowler's defense attorney, Thomas Hirsch, queried about what exact evidence the prosecution had that their client had poisoned Chandler, to which Det. Mickey Brown replied that there was none aside from what was presented already. [11] According to Hirsch, the chemicals found at the Dowler residence was used to make fireworks, and instead, that it was likely Chandler's ex-husband, Kyle, who had killed her. Pat Carter, who worked from time to time in David's shop, also testified that while he had seen friends use chloroform, he had never seen Dowler himself administer it to anyone. On the prosecution's side, Dr. Juan Garcia, a psychiatrist, testified that Mr. Chandler only suffered from depression and was not a violent individual, and Tim Krieg, who until then had remained silent on the matters, testified about Dowler's calls following his ex-wife's death. [5] On January 28, 1988, David Dowler was found guilty in the murder of Leza Chandler, and sentenced to life imprisonment with a chance of parole. At the end of the trial, District Attorney Eric Augesen called him a vicious murderer and a cruel manipulator who liked control and to snuff out human life. [2] Dowler remains behind bars, and his next parole hearing is scheduled for December 2022.

See also

Related Research Articles

The Leuchter report is a pseudoscientific document authored by American execution technician Fred A. Leuchter, who was commissioned by Ernst Zündel to defend him at his trial in Canada for distributing Holocaust denial material. Leuchter compiled the report in 1988 with the intention of investigating the feasibility of mass homicidal gassings at Nazi extermination camps, specifically at Auschwitz. He traveled to the camp, collected multiple pieces of brick from the remains of the crematoria and gas chambers, brought them back to the United States, and submitted them for chemical analysis. At the trial, Leuchter was called upon to defend the report in the capacity of an expert witness; however, during the trial, the court ruled that he had neither the qualifications nor experience to act as such.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Nichols</span> American mass murderer and rapist

Brian Gene Nichols is a convicted murderer known for his escape and killing spree in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 11, 2005. Nichols was on trial for rape when he escaped custody and murdered Rowland Barnes, the judge presiding over his trial, a court reporter, a Fulton County Sheriff's deputy, and later an ICE special agent. Twenty-six hours after a large-scale manhunt was launched in the metropolitan Atlanta area, Nichols was taken into custody. The prosecution charged him with committing 54 crimes during the escape; he was found guilty on all counts on November 7, 2008, and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynching of Michael Donald</span> Murder by the KKK in Alabama, 1981

The lynching of Michael Donald in Mobile, Alabama, on March 21, 1981, was one of the last reported lynchings in the United States. Several Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members beat and killed Michael Donald, a 19-year-old African-American, and hung his body from a tree. One perpetrator, Henry Hays, was executed by electric chair in 1997, while another, James Knowles, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty and testifying against Hays. A third man was convicted as an accomplice and also sentenced to life in prison, and a fourth was indicted, but died before his trial could be completed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Clark O'Bryan</span> American murderer

Ronald Clark O'Bryan, nicknamed The Candy Man and The Man Who Killed Halloween, was an American man convicted of killing his eight-year-old son Timothy on Halloween 1974 with a potassium cyanide-laced Pixy Stix that was ostensibly collected during a trick or treat outing. O'Bryan poisoned his son in order to claim life insurance money to ease his own financial troubles, as he was $100,000 in debt. O'Bryan also distributed poisoned candy to his daughter and three other children in an attempt to cover up his crime; however, neither his daughter nor the other children ate the poisoned candy. He was convicted of capital murder in June 1975 and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in March 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pimlico Mystery</span> 1886 death of Thomas Edwin Bartlett

The Pimlico Mystery or the Pimlico Poisoning Mystery is the name given to the circumstances surrounding the 1886 death of Thomas Edwin Bartlett, possibly at the hands of his wife, Adelaide Blanche Bartlett, in the Pimlico district of London. A fatal quantity of chloroform was found in Mr Bartlett's stomach, despite having not caused any damage to his throat or windpipe, and no evidence of how it got there. Adelaide Bartlett was tried for her husband's murder and was acquitted. By the jury's own statement in court Mrs Bartlett's acquittal was partly secured because the prosecution could not prove how Mrs Bartlett could have committed the crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence Ray Allen</span> American murderer (1930–2006)

Clarence Ray Allen was an American criminal and proxy killer who was executed in 2006 at the age of 76 by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in California for the murders of three people. Allen was the second-oldest inmate at the time to be executed in the United States since 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Marie Hahn</span> American serial killer

Anna Marie Hahn was a German-born American serial killer. She murdered 5 elderly men from Cincinnati by poison between 1933 and 1937. She was convicted of murder and executed by electric chair in 1938.

Stella Maudine Nickell is an American woman who was sentenced to ninety years in prison for product tampering after she poisoned Excedrin capsules with lethal cyanide, resulting in the deaths of her husband Bruce Nickell and Sue Snow, a stranger. Her May 1988 conviction and prison sentence were the first under federal product tampering laws instituted after the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders.

Levi Bellfield is an English serial killer, sex offender, rapist, kidnapper, and burglar. He was found guilty on 25 February 2008 of the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, and sentenced to life imprisonment. On 23 June 2011, Bellfield was further found guilty of the murder of Milly Dowler. On both occasions, the judge imposed a whole life order, meaning that Bellfield will serve the sentence without the possibility of parole. Bellfield was the first prisoner in history to have received two whole life orders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Maybrick</span> Wrongfully convicted of murder in Britain

Florence Elizabeth Chandler Maybrick was an American woman convicted in the United Kingdom of murdering her husband, cotton merchant James Maybrick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Milly Dowler</span> 2002 murder of English schoolgirl

On 21 March 2002, Amanda Jane "Milly" Dowler, a 13-year-old English schoolgirl, was reported missing by her parents after failing to return home from school and not being seen since walking along Station Avenue in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, that afternoon. Following an extensive search, her remains were discovered in Yateley Heath Woods in Yateley, Hampshire, on 18 September.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyanide poisoning</span> Broad-spectrum poisoning

Cyanide poisoning is poisoning that results from exposure to any of a number of forms of cyanide. Early symptoms include headache, dizziness, fast heart rate, shortness of breath, and vomiting. This phase may then be followed by seizures, slow heart rate, low blood pressure, loss of consciousness, and cardiac arrest. Onset of symptoms usually occurs within a few minutes. Some survivors have long-term neurological problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot</span> Assassination plot in Portland, Oregon

In 1985, a group of high-ranking Rajneeshees, followers of the Indian mystic Shree Rajneesh, conspired to assassinate Charles Turner, the then-United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. Rajneesh's personal secretary and second-in-command, Ma Anand Sheela, assembled the group after Turner was appointed to investigate illegal activity at the followers' community, Rajneeshpuram. Turner investigated charges of immigration fraud and sham marriages, and later headed the federal prosecution of the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack in The Dalles, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Caylee Anthony</span> 2008 death of an infant American girl

Caylee Marie Anthony was an American toddler who lived in Orlando, Florida, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony, and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 15, 2008, Caylee was reported missing in a 9-1-1 call made by Cindy, who said she had not seen the child for thirty-one days. According to what Cindy told police dispatchers, Casey had given varied explanations as to Caylee's whereabouts before eventually saying she had not seen her daughter for weeks. Casey later called police and falsely told a dispatcher that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny on June 9. Casey was charged with first-degree murder in October 2008 and pleaded not guilty.

Lethal Vows is a 1999 made-for-television American drama film based on the events which led to the trial and conviction of Richard K. Overton for the poisoning death of his third wife, Janet Overton. Starring John Ritter, Marg Helgenberger and Megan Gallagher, the movie premiered October 13, 1999, on CBS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stacey Castor</span> American convicted murderer (1967–2016)

Stacey Ruth Castor was an American convicted murderer from Weedsport, New York. In 2009, she was found guilty of murdering her then-husband David Castor with antifreeze in 2005 and attempting to murder her daughter, Ashley Wallace, by spiking her drinks with pills in 2007. In addition, she was suspected of having murdered her first husband, Michael Wallace, in 2000; his grave lay next to David's until the latter's remains were disinterred and buried elsewhere in 2016. The story made national news, and Castor was subsequently named the "Black Widow" by media outlets.

People v. Molineux, 168 N.Y. 264 (1901), was a landmark decision by the Court of Appeals of New York concerning the trial of a suspected murderer.

The murder of Robert Schwartz occurred on December 8, 2001, in Leesburg, Virginia. The crime was orchestrated by his 20-year-old daughter, Clara Jane Schwartz, as part of a fantasy role-playing game. The killing itself was perpetuated by her 18-year-old friend Kyle Hulbert, who had a history of mental illness; 21-year-old Michael Pfohl and 19-year-old Katherine Inglis were accessories to the crime. The case made national headlines due to Schwartz's prominence in the scientific community and for claims that his murder was related to role-playing games and the occult.

On 6 January 2016, Wayan Mirna Salihin died in Abdi Waluyo Hospital after drinking a Vietnamese iced coffee at the Olivier Cafe in the Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Jakarta. According to the police, cyanide poisoning was most likely the cause of Mirna's death. Police charged Jessica Kumala Wongso with her murder. Jessica was found guilty of the murder and was sentenced to 20 years. Jessica's appeal was later rejected by the higher court.

On February 17, 1933, William J. Costello, a fire captain in Peabody, Massachusetts, was found dead by his wife, Jessie B. Costello. After an autopsy found a lethal amount of potassium cyanide in his body, Jessie was charged with his murder. At trial, her defense team contended that her husband had killed himself or had ingested the poison accidentally. She was acquitted after a highly publicized trial.

References

  1. ↑ "Dowler's TDCJ information".
  2. 1 2 "Chloroform killing draws life sentence". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. January 28, 1988.
  3. 1 2 3 Janine Ehlinger (September 9, 1987). "Family, friends support Dowler, Page 2". Odessa American.
  4. 1 2 3 Kevin Tridwell (January 19, 1988). "Dowler trial today, Page 2". Odessa American.
  5. 1 2 3 Kevin Tridwell (January 26, 1988). "Defense rests case in Dowler trial, Page 2". Odessa American.
  6. 1 2 Kevin Tridwell (January 19, 1988). "Dowler trial today, Page 1". Odessa American.
  7. 1 2 Holden Lewis (November 8, 1987). "Authorities Work To Assemble Murder Cases Against Seemingly Harmless Man". Associated Press.
  8. ↑ William Tracy Cowie (September 9, 1987). "Dowler gets murder charge". Odessa American.
  9. ↑ Janine Ehlinger (September 9, 1987). "Family, friends support Dowler, Page 1". Odessa American.
  10. ↑ John Conway (December 31, 1987). "Dowler indicted in 2 other deaths". Odessa American.
  11. ↑ Kevin Tridwell (January 26, 1988). "Defense rests case in Dowler trial, Page 1". Odessa American.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.